The Moment of Truth in Your Lies
by alanabloom
Summary: 2x10, a scene that should have been. Emma's convinced Regina isn't the one who killed Archie. But a talk with her father leads to an inadvertent realization: Regina may not be so blameless in ANOTHER recent death in Storybrooke. Emma and Charming bonding. Gremma mentions.


_A/N:__ So I have a lot of strong feelings and thoughts on the last episode, but author's notes in fanfic aren't the place for rants. One of many issues, though, was that it was yet another episode that no one mentioned Graham or realized how he actually died, even though it would have been a fairly pertinent topic. So, I fixed it. Here be Daddy Charming feels and Graham/Emma feels, because that's how I do._

_If Anyone Reads "Lights Will Guide You Home":__ Apologies, but the next chapter of that is delayed while my Mac is at the hospital known as the Apple Genius Bar for a couple days. It froze up the other day and wouldn't let me back in, and that literally happened while I was reading through the finished chapter for errors. I'm reluctant to rewrite it completely, since it was done, but I should find out Wednesday if my data is still there and salvageable, and if it is, the fix should be fast. You may see some oneshots in the meantime. _

_The Moment of Truth in Your Lies_

_And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming_  
_Or the moment of truth in your lies_  
_When everything feels like the movies_  
_Yeah, you'd bleed just to know you're alive_

_And I don't want the world to see me_  
_'Cause I don't think that they'd understand_  
_When everything's made to be broken_  
_I just want you to know who I am_

He's the one to escort Regina out of the station, trying to ignore the knot of dread and uncertainty in his stomach as he does what his daughter wants. Still, Charming gives Regina a hard, stony look just before he moves out of the doorway, a warning flashing in his eyes.

Still, for Emma's sake, he holds his tongue.

Snow's waiting for him inside, but Emma's retreated to her back office, which gives Snow the chance to say grimly, "I don't like this."

"Neither do I," he admits. His eyes flit toward the glass windows of the sheriff's office, watching his daughter pace. "But we have to trust her."

"I know." Snow sighs, resigned. "She suggested we go to Archie's office, check things out."

"Good idea…" His voice trails off, eyes still on Emma. Finally, he drags his gaze away to look at Snow. "Just give me a minute?"

She, too, looks in Emma's direction, then nods. "Of course."

~(OUAT)~

"I didn't meant to doubt you in there."

Emma turns, slightly startled by the sound of his voice. Her father's leaning against the door, his expression beseeching, almost nervous.

She feels an unexpected rush of affection for him. They haven't been back very long, but already she's picked up on a pattern to Charming's behavior toward her. He's incredibly earnest, always eager to please, but there's a certain anxiety to him, and he's constantly second guessing himself, making sure she isn't interpreting incorrectly (_Emma can I get you anything? Not that you can't get it yourself, just I know you're probably tired)._

Shooting him a wry, tired smile, she says, "But you still think I'm wrong, don't you?"

"It isn't that," he assures her quickly, stepping into the office. "I trust _you_, really. Just…we have a little trouble trusting _Regina_." A shadow settles over his face, his eyes darkening as he tells her, "We've given her the benefit of the doubt before…after she put the sleeping curse on Snow, we canceled an execution and let her go free. Hoped she could change."

Emma blinks at him, still a little thrown off by any casual mention of their lives in Fairy Tale Land. Without thinking, she asks, "So what happened?"

He looks her straight in the eye, and his expression is so pained it's startling. "What happened was that she cast the curse. And we lost you."

Emma's throat narrows, guilt coiling in her stomach. Her eyes dart to the floor, away from his face, and she uselessly mutters, "Sorry."

Charming's face softens. "Don't _you _be sorry."

Emma looks up, then, still feeling the need to state her case. She doesn't like the idea that they're just humoring, that they think she isn't good at her job. "I'm serious, though. I've seen Regina lie to me enough to know when she's being genuine, and I _don't _believe she knew Archie was dead."

"Then that's good enough for me," he says firmly.

Emma arches an eyebrow. "You sure?"

"_Yes." _Charming smiles suddenly, and he momentarily forgets the situation they're in, his eyes shining with something like pride. "You forget I've seen your sheriffing skills in action. You're plenty good at what you do."

Emma's smile is instantaneous; if Charming didn't know better he'd say she was almost _blushing_. "Well," she says finally. "I heard you didn't do so bad yourself." She smirks. "Didn't sully the badge at least."

"Oh yeah? Who told you that?"

"Ruby filled me in at Granny's." Emma hesitates, and her voice Is almost shy when she adds, "Maybe when this is all straightened out you could, uh. Figure out something official."

For a moment, Charmings looks at her blankly, but in a few seconds his face lights up. "Emma Swan, are you saying you'd deputize me?"

She smiles, thinking of Regina calling the sheriff's station a "family business". She'd rather die than admit how much she loved the sound of that. Trying to sound flippant, she tells him, "Yeah. Whatever, if you want. I know it's not as glamorous as running a kingdom-"

"I'm in," he cuts her off eagerly, then adds, "I mean, if you're sure. I don't have any actual experience."

"Neither did I, and Graham still-" Emma stops talking, inhaling sharply, face tightening in a way that suggests she said something she shouldn't.

It's been months since she's said his name out loud. It was carefully, deliberately done, starting about a month after his death, when she started willfully misunderstanding Mary Margaret allusions to Graham and what she'd gone through when he died. She'd see his jacket every day, go to work in the place where he died, and yet she forced herself to pretend he never crossed her mind.

Now, Charming is staring at her, his brow furrowed in concern. Words tangle in Emma's throat, her brain scrambling for a way to brush it off. Her father knows nothing about her and Graham, she can surely move past this.

But her eyes flick unconsciously toward Graham's jacket, and Charming follows her gaze.

"Is that, um. Is that Graham's?" Emma doesn't answer, and he adds awkwardly, "I just wondered sometimes, since it was always here."

"Yeah," Emma says weakly, her eyes on the ground. "Yeah, that was Graham's." One of her hands drifts almost unconsciously toward her badge, fingers tracing the edges of something else that used to be his.

The silence the envelopes them is heavy and awkward, and Charming shifts his weight nervously for a few moments before coming up with something to break it. "You know, I met Graham once."

Emma lifts her eyes, giving him an odd, impatient look. "Uh, yeah, I know. I was there, remember? When we all found you in the woods."

"No, not then, I meant…before the curse." Charming frowns a little, eyes far away. He'd only just remembered this, only just made the connection to the sheriff. "He saved my life once, actually."

Emma crosses her arms in front of her chest, seeming to shrink into herself a little. She doesn't interrupt him though, and after a beat of silence Charming continues, "Regina, she had me in a cell, and I knew she was going after Snow. Her men, they came to take me to be executed. I tried to fight them off – all these men in armor and helmets – but I rounded the corner and was staring down an arrow. Another one was behind me, I thought I was a goner but…the knight with the arrow, he shot the other guard instead. Then he takes off his helmet, it was Graham."

Emma's whole body has gone stone still, and she drinks in every word.

"I had no idea who he was, of course. He just said he was a friend. And he told me he knew Snow, and that the Queen was going after her. She got me out of the castle and got me out. I asked why he wouldn't come with me, and he said the Queen had taken his heart so he could spare Snow's. We talked about it later, and she told me what-"

Charming's words slowly fade, lost behind a roaring in Emma's ears. The words strike a chord with her, and suddenly Emma's remembering.

Hook, admitting he took Aurora's heart. _You took her heart?_

Henry after Graham's death, insisting that Regina did it. _She killed Graham because he was good._

And Graham, denying his heart even as it beat under her fingers. _It's my heart, Emma. I need to find it._

_I don't feel anything._

_I remember._

The Hunstman..

"Oh my God," she whispers faintly, cutting right into whatever Charming's saying.

He steps closer to her, eyes widening in concern. Her whole face has gone ashen, her body swaying precariously like she might fall over from a simple touch. "Emma?"

"_Fuck," _Emma whispers, and it's the last word she manages before she spins around, running to the corner of the room and going down hard on her knees, pulling the small trash can toward her, and emptying the contents of her stomach.

"Emma!" David cries out in alarm, loud enough to bring Snow running into the office.

"What happened?!"

"I don't know….Emma?" He's kneeling behind her, holding her hair back, and after a minute Snow bends down in front of her, handing her a room temperature bottle of water and instructing her to drink.

Her hands are shaking so much she empties nearly a third of the bottle's contents onto herself as she tries to sip. Emma starts to stand up but gets immediately dizzy, and she reaches instinctively for David's jacket, grabbing hold to anchor herself.

His eyes are pools are pure worry, and Snow's mirror the look exactly. "Emma, what's wrong? Did I say something or-"

"She….she killed him," Emma grits out finally, the words like broken glass. "She _murdered _him…"

Snow and Charming exchange a look of pure confusion. "But…you just said she didn't."

"Not Archie," Emma manages through clenched teeth, her eyes squeezed shut. "_Graham."_

There's a moment or two of silence as this sinks in, and then Snow gasps, making the same realizations Emma had moments before. "She…she had his heart. Oh, _Emma."_

Because she knows. Because back when they were just roommates and friends, Mary Margaret had been the one to drive around Storybrooke in the middle of the night, frantically looking for Emma after Ruby called her with the news that Graham was dead and Emma had bolted as soon as a doctor confirmed it. She'd been the one to stand in the doorway, watching while Emma threw everything in her bedroom against a wall. She'd been the one to wake up in the middle of the night and bring Emma hot chocolate when she woke up with his name scratching at her throat. And she'd been the one to hug her and stroke her hair for hours when Emma finally, _finally _let herself cry.

Snow looks ready to hug her now, but there's something taking shape in Emma's face that makes her hold back.

She's pulling herself together now, the anger focusing her. Her rage is a monster breathing down her neck, urging her to fight. Emma hears Regina's voice in her head:

_If I did, and I was going to kill Archie, you would never know it. The fact that he's dead and you caught me shows sloppiness._

The autopsy report had said it was natural causes, that Graham had a heart attack.

Emma shudders suddenly, her stomach twisting and threatening to rebel again, nauseous with self loathing.

Swallowing hard, she forces that feeling away and refocuses. Her eyes flash and harden, and she finally pulls herself up.

"Let's go."

~(OUAT)~

As soon as Regina opens the door, Emma's hands curl involuntarily into fists, and in the next second David's hand is on her back, as if he could feel the instinctive desire to hurt Regina radiating off her.

It's enough to tame the instinct, but as it is Emma's practically growling as she jerks out her handcuffs and reaches none too gently for Regina's arm. "Regina Mills, you're under arrest for first degree murder-"

"_Excuse_ me." Regina jerks away, looking annoyed but not particularly worried. "I've already told you, I had nothing to do with what happened to Dr. Hopper."

"You're not under arrest for murdering Archie," Emma counters, her voice dangerously low. "You're under arrest for murdering _Graham."_

Shock transforms Regina's entire face; this is clearly the last thing she'd expected. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You had his heart," she snarls. "And he walked away from you, and he was starting to remember so you…" Her voice catches, and for one horrifying moment Emma's afraid she's going to break down in tears right here, on Regina's porch, in the middle of an arrest.

Regina's eyes move from Emma, and then to Snow and Charming, who are flanking her. Regina squares her shoulders, eyes flashing. "You'll never prove it."

This snaps Emma back into control. "To what? A court?" Her lips curl, eyes narrowing. "Maybe I don't have proof, but everyone here will know it's true. And it's not like you can go outside Storybrooke to challenge it."

Regina finally looks the slightest bit alarmed as Emma grabs her arm again and snaps the handcuffs in place.

~(OUAT)~

"So what's the plan here?"

Charming's voice is gentle, breaking into a good five minute silence since they locked Regina in the cell.

Emma seems dazed, like it takes her a few seconds to drag her mind to the present. "I…I don't know. I guess we just…do some sort of trial, here, and we'll lock her up somewhere else long term." Her face hardens. "I'll build a damn prison if I have to…"

"Red said there are solitary cells under the hospital," Snow puts in. "It's where Regina had Belle, we could use those."

"Perfect." Emma runs a hand through her hair. "But for now we have to keep looking for whoever killed Archie."

Snow lifts her eyebrows, surprised. "You mean you still don't think it was Regina?"

Emma shakes her head. "No. I meant what I said, I believe she was genuinely shocked." She sets her jaw, eyes flashing. "Not that she isn't perfectly capable of murder…I just don't think she committed this one."

"Alright." Snow takes her hand and squeezes it once. "Should go over to Archie's office?"

"Sure, you two go ahead," Emma says, the slightest hitch in her voice. "I'll meet you there in a few minutes?"

Charming opens his mouth like might protest, but Snow touches his arm, gently steering him toward the door. "Take your time."

Emma nods, and waits for them to leave before turning toward the coat rack.

She tries not to pay too much attention to the jacket: that usually means she can only glance at it two or three times a day, and maybe once a week she lets her fingers graze the cool leather when she walks by.

Now, though, she lifts the whole coat from the rack. It's surprisingly heavy, as if it holds the very memory of him, and as the familiar scent hits her, Emma clutches the jacket to her chest, tears finally brimming over and rolling down her face, the first time in so many months that she has let herself cry over him.

"_I'm sorry," _she whispers in a quiet, broken voice, like she's speaking to the ghosts suddenly crowding the sheriff station, the ghost that never really stopped haunting it.

~(OUAT)~

They're halfway across the street when Charming turns on his heel. "I'm gonna make sure she's okay…"

Snow grabs his arm, a warning in her eyes. "You can't push her, David."

He smiles wryly. "Aren't I the usually the one telling _you _that?"

"Yes, but this is different. Talking to Emma about Graham…it's really delicate. When it's not impossible."

He frowns. "Were they together or…?"

Snow hesitates, searching for the right words. "They were…on the brink of it." She meets her husband's eyes. "She was with him when he died."

"I heard that," he says quietly, a pang of regret hitting him, not for the first time, that he'd only barely gotten on the fringes of his daughter's life in Storybrooke before the curse was broken. This thought only makes him more determined, so he repeats, "I just want to make sure she's okay."

Snow doesn't stop him, and soon he's reentering the sheriff's station, walking past Regina in her cell without sparing a glance, and leaning tentatively into the office. "Emma?"

She's still standing in the middle of the small room, her back to him, slightly doubled over. Her shoulders are shaking, her spine arching and convulsing with sobs, but it takes him a moment to pick up on the barely audible hitches in her breath. She stiffens when she hears his voice, and Charming very tentatively moves around to look at her.

As soon as he sees her face, tear streaked and etched with profound grief, his heart turns over in his chest. "Oh, sweetheart…" The endearment slips out accidentally, and his fingers brush at the tears on her cheeks. Either the touch or the nickname brings an audible sob tearing out of her, and Emma suddenly shakes her head hard, struggling to speak.

"I…I didn't b-believe him," she chokes out. "He was so scared, he knew she, she had his heart and I d-didn't listen…" Her face crumples and her voice falls to pieces, and Charming forgets to overanalyze or second guess himself, and he wraps her in a strong, secure hug, Graham's jacket getting crushed between them.

Emma presses her face against his shoulder without hesitation, finally not fighting it as she allows herself a long overdue breakdown.

Her eyes are raw and her chest aching by the time she finally pulls back. There's something so tender and caring about Charming's expression that Emma barely even feels a flicker of embarrassment. Still, the first thing she does is apologize, "Sorry."

"Don't be," he scolds her gently. "Emma, listen to me. What happened to Graham is no one's fault but Regina's. No one would have believed that his heart was gone, and even if somehow you had, you wouldn't have been able to stop her from crushing it."

"I guess," Emma says dully. "It's just…Mary Margaret, right after the curse broke. She said I saved everyone, but…it isn't fair that I couldn't save him. And he was one of the first people…he and Mare, they were the first people ever to take a chance on me, to try to make me feel like I could…belong somewhere. When he offered me the job, he told me I should stay awhile, put down some roots. And I never even told him this, but….him offering me that deputy badge, it meant a lot."

Charming smiles a little, eyes shining. "I know the feeling." Emma remembers her earlier proposition to him, and it almost coaxes a smile out of her. "If you're job offer's still good."

"If you don't mind your daughter being your boss," Emma says dryly, a hint of a smirk dancing on her lips.

"I'm pretty used to just doing what I'm told," he says with a grin. "Your mom can attest to that."

"Sounds good, then." Emma glances down at the jacket in her hands, fisting the material tightly one more time. "One rule though." Reluctantly, she loosens her grip and hangs the jacket back on its hook. "This stays here. Always."


End file.
